(The Protector. All pictures copyright Jeff Soto)

A little over a year ago I picked up my first copy of Juxtapoz magazine and was fascinated by the many and varied examples of underground, urban art. I occasionally pick up a copy depending on my interest in the featured artist and I can always count on coming across at least one work by Jeff Soto.

(November Beehive)

There is so much going on in a Jeff Soto painting and that amalgam of images and symbols along with the warm, vibrant colors are what immediately caught my eye and is part of what keeps me coming back for more. There is a wackiness to Jeff Soto’s work that is very attractive. That and the fact that there are robots! (Do you sense an ongoing theme here?)

(Savechildren)

It is always interesting to read interviews with artists whose work you connect to. Sometimes the differences between you and the artist is a chasm and other times there is an instant kinship that illuminates a reason for your attachment to their work. The connection in the case of Jeff Soto is due to childhood interests.

(Film Monster)

Born in 1975 Jeff grew up fascinated with Star Wars, Robotech and Transformers. Those things, and nostalgia for his childhood in general, are reflected in his creations. Jeff Soto is a man after my own heart: he continues to collect toys, build models, and embraces his childhood through his work.

(Butterfly Swarm)

Jeff Soto’s art is filled with the things that interest him: the aforementioned robots, cacti, retro science fiction, the skateboard scene, graphitti. I also see a 70’s sensibility given a modern twist. In an interview here he expresses that he likes to juxtapose images of nature with man-made things like weapons. He states, “I like to combine beauty with destruction”.

(The Duel)

Despite some obvious state-of-the-world reflections in his art Soto’s desire is to convey hope with his paintings. That hope can be seen in the flowers and plants and other things of nature in his work.

Jeff Soto’s works are often a combination of layers of painting, collage, drawing…he builds on each piece until he feels it is finished. Jeff’s more recent works show a trend towards painting only though these continue to exhibit depth. I also enjoy the fact that Jeff Soto often paints on old pieces of wood, etc. that lend an interesting texture to his work.

(Box Jellyfish: an example of collage can be seen in the naked lady in the lower right-hand corner and the writing up above)

As I mentioned before, one of the things that struck me right away was the colors Jeff employs. There is a unity in the color scheme and the warm tones blend together so well. I especially love the pinks and greens. The images themselves are often so outlandish and bold that I appreciate Soto’s use of a more delicate palette that enhances rather than detracts from the images. There appears to me to be an Asian influence in Jeff Soto’s work as well. Not traditional Asian, but the kind of influence reflected in the vinyl toy craze that is sweeping Japan and making its way over here. Jeff Soto is actually on the forefront of blending these two mediums as one of his characters has been made into a toy and a really cool vinyl toy is in the works (prototype viewable here. It has to be really cool to see one of your two dimensional creations being made into a 3 dimensional product, especially when it is being done so well, and I am really excited for him.

(Halifax)

In addition to his painted work Jeff Soto has done alot of what is termed “installations”. An example can be seen here. These art installations include paintings and other 2 and 3 dimensional items and the results look so cool that it has to be amazing to see one of his gallery shows.

(Snowmaker Octopi)

The art of Jeff Soto and a few of his contemporaries (who I may feature in the future) is really enjoyable and I remember being so floored by it the first time I saw it. Week after week it can be hard to describe a person’s artwork in such a way that is different from what I said about the last work I featured and that is why I am so glad that I can post pictures. That way I can just say “Look! Enjoy!!!”.

(American Dream)

And the works of Jeff Soto can be looked and and enjoyed over and over. The amount of detail going on encourages repeated viewings and while the work can seem somewhat abstract there is a concreteness to the subject matter that ties it all together.

Some weeks I know way ahead of time what I am going to post on for Friday Favorites…next week for example is all planned out and it will make perfect sense when you read it. This week, however, I really poured through my favorites files to find something that would jump start me. I always want to do justice to the artists whose creations I bring to you. I was feeling so uninspired until I got down to Jeff Soto and it was almost like I could here Emeril’s “Bam!” in my head and I knew this was the week for Soto.

(Flying Projectors)

I have really enjoyed sharing Jeff Soto’s work with you and want to point you to some more sites to take in more of his fascinating paintings. You can see a picture of Jeff Soto here. Much more of Jeff Soto’s work can be found at the Jonathan Levine Gallery. You can find even more examples of Jeff’s work here and here. Jeff Soto also has a book out with some of his artwork entitled Potato Stamp Dreams (limited edition and regular edition can be seen here).

(Falling)

Have a creative, inspiring Friday and rest of the weekend everyone!

(Today’s post is a click-fest. Click almost all the pictures and you’ll find the paperback cover featuring this artwork. Most links will take you to further pictures as well. Click away! Not only is it interesting to see the artwork on the actual covers, but you will also discover some very melodramatic, entertaining tag lines.)

(Redheads in artistic images are my favorite and McGinnis captures the look so well.)

Today’s Friday Favorite features the incredible paperback cover art of Robert McGinnis. A few years ago while surfing the internet I discovered the work of Robert McGinnis and had an instant deja vu experience. The artwork looked so familiar. Starting with his first cover in 1958, Robert McGinnis has painted almost 1,100 paperback covers. Eleven hundred!!! No wonder his works looked familiar. Gracing the covers of mysteries, detective stories, westerns, romance, gothic tales and adventure stories the work of McGinnis was all over the place when I was growing up.

(I love the creepy hand shadow looming on the wall!)

Good book illustration draws one to the book and it is easy to see that McGinnis’ images are eye-cathcers. Like Frank Frazetta, the prolific nature of Robert McGinnis has made his work recognizable to the point that his female illustration style is referred to as the McGinnis Woman. There is so much detail in his characters, usually juxtaposed against a very sparse background which keeps the emphasis where it should be.

(I love how the yellow and white tones balance out the composition. There is almost a ying and yang thing going on there.)

And his use of lighting is masterful. Many of his illustrations demonstrate just how well he understands light and shadow and he uses it so perfectly to emphasize just the right areas of each painting.

(There’s a sexy Casablanca feel to this one.)

With nearly eleven hundred works to choose from it was difficult to decide on the art for today’s post. To my knowledge all McGinnis’ works are not online but thanks to the dedication of Graeme Flanagan there is a proliferation of images out there from which to choose. Mr. Flanagan was gracious enough to allow me permission to use artwork from his page and every book cover you see when you click on the various pictures is from his site. Graeme’s site is a gold mine of images and information about Robert McGinnis, a site for both the casual and hard core McGinnis fan to enjoy. The main images used on this post are from the Painted Anvil site. Visit both sites for a much greater appreciation of the talent of Robert McGinnis.

(The blue lends such depth and focus to this piece)

The colors used by Robert McGinnis no doubt reflect the era in which he was doing them and they create such a sense of nostalgia for me.

His use of color and light and the positioning of the subjects creates great mood and atmosphere in each piece.

Most of McGinnis’ covers lean more towards stylized but realistic images though some of the less polished works look to me like the kind of art that would have influenced comic creators like Joe Chiodo and J. Scott Campbell.

Whether it is grizzled detectives or sultry seductresses, it is obvious why Robert McGinnis’ art lives on so many paperback covers the world over.

Like many similarly composed novel covers of that era I had always assumed that the interior stories would not hold up to the same quality as the artwork that sold them. Thankfully due to the blog sites of authors like James Reasoner and Bill Crider I have been discovering that there are some really good books out there and I actually own a few of them. I now look forward to giving them a good read.

It is amazing to me that anyone can paint this well. McGinnis’ attention to detail, from individual strands of hair to the light glinting off lip-stick covered lips or the cold steel of a revolver make each piece seem so alive.

Although many of my favorite images come from the detective and mystery novels, Robert McGinnis has done a great deal of other types of cover work. Of the gothic romance novels that feature his art, my favorite is here. Of the more popular books that feature artwork by Robert McGinnis you may recognize that of Where the Red Fern Grows and my second favorite of the Anne of Green Gables series, Rainbow Valley.

In addition to his book cover work Robert McGinnis has done a vast number of movie poster work including How to Steal A Million:

and the iconic Breakfast at Tiffany’s:

both of which tie in quite well with yesterday’s post! Robert McGinnis can capture such great likenesses as evidenced in this Bond poster featuring Sean Connery.

In wanting to find out more about him I recently purchased the excellent Art Scott/Dr. Wallace Maynard book The Paperback Covers of Robert McGinnis. In addition to 250 examples of McGinnis’ published works there are rough sketches, model reference shots, and the entire bibliography of the 1,068 books he had done covers for up until the year 2000. Robert McGinnis’ body of work has continued to grow since then and despite being 80 years of age he has recently produced covers for a number of new and reprinted works coming out under the Hard Case Crime label. These latest works can be seen here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

There are also some novels with some hilarious, over-dramatic tag lines that I just had to include (click on titles for the image), my favorites are: Girl on the Prowl, Don’t Speak To Strange Girls, The Homicidal Virgin, and Francesca. Reading the tag lines aloud in the movie-tone voice brings about the desired humorous effect.

There are a few other sites besides the ones linked to above in which to satiate your desire for more McGinnis goodness: Vintage Paperbacks and Leifpeng’s Photo Set.

The art of Robert McGinnis: his sexy women, suave detectives, gothic romantic damsels, western portraits and his other many and varied works won him induction into the Society of Illustrator’s Hall of Fame in 1993 and it is well deserved.

The work of Robert McGinnis is recognizable for his iconic femme-fatales and its retro sexy appeal and I have enjoyed bringing his work to you (twice…explained in the comments section). I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and a fantastic weekend!

Each of the following images can be clicked on to open a larger version. I do this because the work looks so much better in a larger format.

Yes, despite what your calendars tell you it is indeed Friday. Or it will have to be for this week because Friday I will be posting a review of Silent Hill. And so not to deprive you of my Friday Favorites I give it to you a day earlier. Chris Turnham is a recent discovery for me but one I am thrilled to have made for many reasons. A visit to Chris’ site will reveal not only a sampling of his amazing 2 dimensional work, but also his 3 dimensional work in the computer graphics/gaming realm and some really great animated work in progress.

One of the things that impresses me about Chris Turnham’s illustration is his use of light and the light source. I really love it in the image above. You can really sense the rising of the sun (or setting depending on your interpretation) and the glow it gives to different surfaces of the building. I also enjoy the light given off by the moon in the picture at the top of this post. (Did you notice the hand in the lower right corner?)

Chris’ work features a muted color palette and line work that reminds me of 1950’s and 60’s ad illustrations and cartoons. I really like that also. And of course I like blimps, so my attraction to the above image was a foregone conclusion.

This style of art is reminiscent of Darwyn Cooke’s work on the New Frontiers series that captured my attention last year. Cooke’s work has a slightly more modern cartoon feel to it but I get the same nostalgic vibe off the work.

There is a real sense of fun in Chris Turnham’s work as well.

Orange in its various hues and tones is a favorite color of mine and there is a healthy use of this color in Turnham’s work that pulls me in.

Chris’ two dimensional work also consists of a number of concept art pieces for an animated film Abigail Frett and the Fifty Foot Threat that Chris is working on with his roommate Kevin Dart. There is a website with more concept art and preproduction workings for the film here. The preproduction art consists of a number of pictures of Abby flying a kite atop a twist, craggy hill next to an interesting looking old house. There is a real sense of adventure to these pictures and I hope you check out the rest on his website.

If you go to Chris Turnham’s 3 D portion of his site, located here, and scroll down you will come to a link for an animated short that Chris did with his college roommates. If you are a fan of Tim Burton’s work, most especially of his animated short Poe, then you really should check out Gertie Gutless. It is a brief but fun film that is worth the download time to watch.

I enjoyed sharing something a little different with you this week and hope you continue to tune in for more.

(Cover to first issue of Doomed from IDW Publishing)

My previous Friday Favorites have tended towards a more bright color palette. Today I offer the more dark and earthy work of Ashley Wood. Mr. Wood was born in Australia and today splits time residing between his native land and the United States.

(Alternate cover for Doomed #2 from IDW Publishing)

Despite doing illustration for a number of clients from Microsoft to Sony to Warner Bros., Ashley Woods has made the biggest name for himself in the comics industry here in the United States, particularly with the various books he has worked on from IDW Publishing. Ashley Woods’ unique works began gracing the covers of the comics Spawn and Sam and Twitch from Image Comics and then moved on to other horror driven works like 30 Days of Night for IDW. Not content to work solely on the creations of others Ashley yearned to do his own work, the most notable being his creation Popbot.

Popbot is an interesting, non-traditional, adult comic work. In Popbot Ashley has been free to use his impressionistic style to it fullest. What has resulted is a work that is interesting to look at but takes some imagination and persistence to read.

Ashley describes Popbot as featuring “an eclectic cast of characters starring a talking rock star cat, his robot bodyguard, sexy women, robot-ninja assassins, and more…”. I can attest that it indeed does. It is no great revelation that I love robots, and few warm blooded males don’t like sexy women, but after 3 or 4 issues I personally decided I had to wait until at least all 13 issues were out before I delved any deeper. Ashley Wood has mentioned in interviews that all will make sense once all issues are completed but he also levels some complaints at American comic readers who he feels need to be spoon-fed stories. There may be some truth to that and I respect his opinion. Regardless of the sometimes cryptic nature of his stories, the art in Popbot and other works is terrific.

The kitty in Popbot is based on Ashley Wood’s own cat, Eddy. I really like his take on robots, they have a real fluid movement to them despite being depictions of machines.

The work of Ashley Wood is that of traditional painting techniques occasionally coupled with digital photography and graphics software. I enjoy Ashley’s work for a number of reasons. The subject matter appeals to me on many levels and I absolutely love the darker tones Ashley uses in the bulk of his work. Ashley Wood has a very unique take on the human form. Women, men…even robots and cats, tend to be shapely, elongated, kinetic representations of the real thing. The fact that there is a realism in the midst of his very unrealistic proportioned characters makes his work fascinating.

Ashley Wood has recently joined the blogging community. I enjoy it when artist’s have their own blogs as they often post works in progress, etc. Ashley Wood’s blog is no exception. When an artist paints as well as Ashley does I enjoy seeing their process and especially like finding out what their initial pencil sketches look like.

Ashley Wood’s pencil sketches are great art in their own right. In addition to his painted works he has done more traditional work on comic interiors. Here is an example:

I love that image not only for the interesting colors, but Ashley Wood draws a mean old creepy house. Whatever the odd reason may be, I always appreciate a comic artist who can draw a good old eerie house or castle. Mike Mignola is one of my favorites who does this to perfection.

Recently Ashley Wood’s creation has had the honor of being turned into a collectible statue. I can think of nothing more cool as an artist of graphic novels to have your creation turned into a three dimensional format. They have done a marvelous job with the Popbot statue and I love the packaging as well.

Ashley Wood’s latest venture for IDW is the series Lore.

Lore is the “masterpiece of mythology gone wild, which presents the story of Jennifer Bradley. Thrust into a world where beasts of legend are made flesh, Bradley must unravel the story of her father’s mysterious death before humankind is wiped out forever.” Sounds interesting and I may have to check this one out.

The above image is so interesting because it reminds me of the art in Mirrormask. It is a fascinating piece that makes me very curious about the images inside the box and what it all means.

Despite the fact that the above is a fantastical image of robots on the battlefield that image has a really cold, powerful feel to it. Really makes me think of the current middle east situation.

How could I not include an image of my childhood idols Han and Chewie?

Like all the art I share I realize that it is not for everyone but I love taking the opportunity to share the many and varied things that I’ve stumbled across in my reading, internet searching, etc. that has caught my attention. The works of Ashley Wood fire my imagination with his use of subdued color, his movement, and subject matter which is right up my alley. I hope you enjoyed today’s Friday Favorites but am just as interested in hearing if you didn’t. The point is to stimulate conversation, share some art, and hopefully inspire creativity. Check out more of Ashley Wood’s work at his sites that I linked to in the post as well as at your local comic shop. His printed works are definitely for mature audiences, so don’t be buying them for the kiddies…for the kitties, well, that’s another thing altogether! Happy Weekend Everyone!

(illustration in upcoming Fables original graphic novel)

My awareness of the unique art of James Jean came with issue one of the DC: Vertigo Comics series Fables when it debuted about 4 years ago. Since that time James Jean’s painted works have graced every issue of Fables (47 at the time of this writing) as well as art for Batgirl, Green Arrow and others. His work for DC Comics has garnered two consecutive Eisner awards and a Harvey award.

(cover to issue 12 of Fables)

Quick side note: Fables is the Eisner award winning series created and written by Bill Willingham. It features the many and varied characters from our childhood fairy tales. They have been driven from their homelands by a force known as The Adversary and now live among us, the mundanes, disguised as real people with real jobs, etc. They work to remain undetected while they plot to take back their world. The story is so deep and complex that it is impossible to describe briefly. Suffice it to say that it deserves the many awards it has received and is one of the best comic series produced today.

(cover to Fables number 18…my absolute favorite Fables cover. Very springlike and it just glows. The detail on her hair is stunning)

(cover to Fables 33)

Born in 1979 in Taiwan and raised in New Jersey, James Jean is a fairly young artist who exploded onto the art scene fresh out of the School of Visual Arts in NYC. Soon after graduating in 2001 he landed the Fables job for DC Comics and in a brief time has become quite prolific. In addition to his comic work he has done illustration work for Time Magazine, The New York Times, Rollingstone, Spin, ESPN, Entertainment Weekly, Atlantic Records, Target, Playboy, Knopf, among others.

(Cover to the second Fables trade paperback. James Jean does original artwork for the covers of each Fables trade and it is hard not to buy them in addition to the individual issues just because these collage images are so fantastic.)

(Cover to the Fables trade paperback number 7

James Jean credits the internet for his quick success in finding work. He put together a website with samples of his work and when he dropped off his card a DC Comics they accessed his site, were amazed by his work, and quickly hired him.

(cover to issue 52 of Batgirl)

James Jean’s work starts with his stunning pencils. If you go to his site you can see many of his pictures in their first pencil form and he has such a soft, detailed touch that shows through in the final work. From the pencil stage through painting with acrylics, oils, and Photoshop Jean’s pieces become radiant visions of art.

(Cover for the book, Among the Dolls, by William Sleator)

I find Jean’s work very fresh and exhilarating. I look forward each month to see what he has done for Fables and I recognize his work on other comic books and always pick those up to stare at the gorgeous covers. I hope an art book is in his future because he has so much work out there already.

(Illustration for Men’s Health magazine entitled Fashion)

(Illustration for Men’s Health magazine entitled Jealousy)

James Jean’s art has a radiant quality. His paintings appear almost incandescent, giving the illusion that they are lit from behind. His coloring is always very unique. It is rare that his color palette approaches anything realistic. Instead the colors convey a mood. They are soft and glowing and yet are very powerful and draw the viewer into them. James Jean is an artist whose work I stare at in awe.

(Illustration done for a client who asked him to render an image of pink)

James Jean grew up inspired by comics and at a young age wanted to work in the comics field. His work is just one part of a group of artists and writers who continue to elevate comics above their decades old stereotype. In the near future Jean will have an 8 page story in an original Fables graphic novel. The picture at the top of this post is the first page of his story. I really look forward to seeing more than just a single image, to see how he paces a story and how his artwork translates into panel form.

(Cover to Green Arrow number 46. I love the muted colors and how well they work together)

I hope the future continues to hold much more of James Jean’s work. Like Dave McKean on Sandman I hope James Jean continues to be the cover artist for Fables as long as the book continues as he has lent a unique look and feel to this book from the very beginning. I would also love to see some children’s illustrated books from Jean. They would be fantastic.

(Cover to Green Arrow number 52 featuring one of my favorite DC Comics characters, Zatanna. Another one in which there aren’t many and varied colors and it works wonderfully)

Go to James Jean’s website and check out all of his work. There is a wider variety than I have touched on here, from the innocent to the slightly macabre and his art is well worth perusing and enjoying.

(Illustration for Best Life magazine for an article about one man’s obsession with Star Wars. Click on picture for a larger version)

And just like that another Friday Favorite is born. James Jean’s website has been in my favorites folder for a long time and it is a privilege to share him with you. Have a great, creative weekend everyone.